Door-fastener for retorts.



A. H. MADISON.

DOOR FASTENER FOR RETORTS.

APPLICATION FILED mm: 18. 1912.

1,054,578. Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

ALBERT H. MADISON, OF BRA TlFOR-D, PENNSYLVANIA.

DOQR-FASTENER FOR RETORTS. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

Application filed June 18, 1912. Serial No. 704,328.

To all whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, ALBERT 'H. MADISON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Bradford, in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania,have invented cer+ tain new'and useful Improvements in Door- Fastenersfor Retorts, of which the follow-' ing is a specification,referencebe'ing had therein to the accompanying drawing. My inventionrelates to improvements .in-

' door. fasteners for retorts.

The object of my invention is to provide a door of this character inwhich the same is firmly held closed and inwhich said holding meansbraces .the door and prevents itfrom warping or otherwise beingi'njuredby the intense heat, to which doors "of this character are subjected.

Another object of my invention is to provide a simple,cheap and moreeffective door of this character, which can be more readily locked andunlocked and having certain details of structure hereinafter more fullydescribed.

In the accompanying drawings-Figurc l is an end view'of a retort showingthe door applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken onthe line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on theline 22 Fig. 1, only showing the looking bolts withdrawn from thekeepers carried by the retort, and showing an asbestos packing betweenthe door and its retort.

Retorts of the character to which my improved, door is applied are of adouble wall form, having two doors and my improvement is on the innerdoor. is hung or hinged and fastened by an ordinary latch, but I havenot shown this, as

my lmprovement is on the inner door. There is between the outer andinner door a space of about sixteen inchesforming a dead air space forthe purpose, understood by those skilled in the art. Intense heat iswithin this space, as well as within the retort proper, and 1t is forthis reason that a door has to be greatly braced in order to withstandthe intense heat on each side thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, 1 represents the inner wall of theretort, which, as shown in the drawings, is provided'with a ledge 2,surrounded by the flange 3, and said ledge 2 forming the surface againstwhich the inner face of the door is tightly clamped. The said ledge isprovided with "and size to :fit

Carried by The outer door an annular groove 4 to form a tight joint withthe cover, as will be later described.

The door 5 is made of metal of a character to withstand the greatestheat and of a shape within the flange 3 upon the ledge 2 and is providedwith an annular flange 6, adapted to enter the groove 4. EV

"this arrangement it will be seen that atightjoint is formed between thelower face of the door and the ledge 2 of the retort, so as to'preventthe escape of any of the byproducts from the retort.

the inner face of the door 5, is an enlarged plate 7, which strengthensthe door and prevents the warping thereof. The said plate at the centeris provided with arecess 8, in which rotates the head 9 of the operatingscrew-rod 10. By this arrangement'it will-be seen that the screw-rod isfree to rotate in the door. Carried by the central portion of the dooris a spider 11, having its lower ends 12 bolted or otherwise secured tothe door.- This spider, as shown in'Fig. 1 of the drawings, is formed offour arms and has a solid central portion 13 through which the screw-rod1O freely passes. The upper end of the screw-rod 10 above the solidportion 13 'of the spider is provided with a large head 14, whereby thescrew rod is rotated. I This head 14, as shown, allows a ratchet wrenchor other .means to be applied thereto, whereby the screw-rod may berapidly rotated, the purpose of which .will be more fully described.

Within the spider 11 is a follower 15 having screw-threaded connectionwith the screw bolt or rod 10. The outer edge of said follower isprovided with a series of ears 16, between which the levers 17 arepivoted. The said levers 17, as shown in 95 Fig. 1 of the drawings, fromthe follower 15.

The upper face of the door is provided with a series of loops or guides18 arranged extend radially in pairs in alinementwith each other, and100 passing through each pair of loops or guides 18 is a sliding bolt19, the inner ends of the bolts 19 being pivotally connected to theupper ends of the levers 17. The bolts 19 have enlarged outer ends 20beyond the 105 loops 18 and the upper face of said enlarged ends havebeveled surfaces 21. These enlarged ends 20 prevent or limit the inwardmovement of the sliding bolts 19.

The flange 3 has opposite each bolt an 110 opening 22, which has itsouter face beveled to correspond with the beveled upper face of theenlarged ends of the sliding bolts, whereby when the bolts are forcedupwardly the enlarged ends enter the openings 22 and firmly wedge thedoor down upon the ledge 2 of the retort. The door 5 is hinged to theretort by means of the hinges 23 and 24.

The turning of the screw-rod 10 causes the follower 15 to movedownwardly, and through the medium of the link 17, all of the bolts 19are simultaneously moved outwardly, securely locking the door upon theouter face of the retort. The opposite movement of the screw-rod 1Odraws the follower 15 upwardly .and through the medium of the lever 17the sliding bolts are drawn inwardly, withdrawing the ends 20 from theopening 22 of the retort so that the door may be readily swung uponthe'hinges 22 and 24.

In Fig. 3 of the drawings I have shown the retort l with its outer faceperfectly smooth but provided with an annular recess 27 in which anasbestos packing 28 is placed, which extends a short distance above theupper face, and upon which the cover 5 rests.

In retorts of this character the wood is loaded on cars and run into theretort and then inclosed therein by two doors heretofore mentioned.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. The combination with a retort having an opening, aledge formed around the said opening, a flange carried by the retort onthe outside of the said edge and having a horizontal opening, a doorresting upon the ledge within the flange of the retort, sliding boltscarried by the door and adapted to pass into the opening carried by'theflange, a spider carried by the outer'face of the door at the centerthereof, a plate carried by the inner face of the door, a screw-rodhaving a headed lower end between the plate and the door and free torotate therein and passing outwardly through the spider operating meanscarried by the outer end of the screw-rod, a follower within the spiderand having a screw-threaded connection with the screw-rod, and linkspivotally connecting the follower and the sliding bolts.

2. The combination with a retort having an opening, an annular groove onthe outside of said opening, a packing in said groove, 9. door restingupon the said packing carried by the upper face of the retort on theoutside of the packing and having horizontal openings therein, a spidercarried by the outer face of the door and having horizontally disposedguiding arm, a screw-rod having its inner end swiveled within the doorand passing outwardly through the spider, a followerbetween the arms ofthe spider, guides for the sliding bolts carried by the door and linkpivotally connecting the follower and the sliding bolts, and a hingedconnection between the door and the retort.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signaturein the presence of twowitnesses. ALBERT H. MADISON. WVitnesses:

Harman H. NORTH, CLAYTON L. BENJAMIN.

